After The White
by swift hunter
Summary: This is a sequel to 'The Last Winter'. Nosgoth has changed. Gone is the sun, the rain, the snow. What’s left in its place is a land decaying before the eyes of two Kains and a woman that should be dead.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Legacy of Kain. The OC is mine, though.

Summary: This is a sequel to The Last Winter. Nosgoth has changed. Gone is the sun, the rain, the snow. What's left in its place is a land decaying before the eyes of two Kains and a woman that should be dead. One Kain seeks it's complete destruction, another searches for it's salvation and the last is a weary observer wondering if perhaps death would have been the more merciful of her fates.

AN: I'm a terrible person for starting stories and never finishing them. Thou hast been warned!!! Also, if you haven't read The Last Winter this might be confusing. But I tried to make it as easy to digest as possible. The Last Winter is LOOOOOONG. Possibly more than most would be willing to stomach.

* * *

The truth has been revealed to me.

And it has been shown as the cruel, double-edged sword that it is.

One side of this wonderfully dangerous weapon protects me from those who would seek to use ignorance against me; wield such unawareness in the hopes of controlling me, using me.

But it is as I've said, a double-sided weapon.

Sometimes the truth cuts you deeper than your most hated enemy's blade.

Using this weapon stings me. But it is still my truth, my magnificently beautiful, soul-destroying saviour.

My tormentor.

You would ask me, no doubt, if I would have preferred my ignorance. As though blinding myself to the hard facts could somehow immunise me from a would-be fate and hiding from a simple realization, protect me. The only way to protect myself is to take up the arms of knowledge.

I tell you now that I have accepted the truth that was so very bluntly laid in my lap. It is my only defense.

But that acceptance comes with despair, a hopelessness that threatens to consume me.

Always have I been a child of winter.

What then is there to do when the last winter has been and gone?

Truly, 'lost' does not adequately describe my present predicament, for coldness has always rested within these mountainous veins of mine. My life defined by the endless passing of the seasons and the coming of winter. And now, a winter that will never be again.

It disturbed me: this drying, grey monotony that encroached upon Nosgoth. It left a faint taste of ash and rotting flesh in the back of my mouth and turned my stomach. But it was another truth. There was no option for _me_, but to accept it.

A shadow crept across the crumbling stone of the ancient vampire ruin sheltering me and a long sigh passed my lips. Already, black clouds had appeared on the horizon. The knowledge was instinctual; they were not of nature's design.

What this meant for Nosgoth? I wasn't certain, but my gut told me it was nothing good.

I'd always wished to see the world as my father had described it in his tales but the world was most likely suffering the same as this long forgotten place. Crumbling. Decaying. But this old stone had retained something greater than the citadel, the pillars. It remained untainted. Still pure and unmolested by the dark, restless hands of a terribly young Kain's making. It was a pity. Really.

Ah, yes. Kain.

The Vampire. The forsaken guardian of Balance. The redeemer, turned destroyer, turned saviour. Set to restore the pillars…only to destroy them. Then returned from the future to save the world from the grip of enemies greater than all knowing.

There is but one problem with that, as I see it, there are now two of him running around. Which by all rights is two too many.

Indeed, it would be correct to assume that there is no love lost between us.

His fault entirely, let me assure you.

He is a heartless bastard if ever there was one. One could not mistake the sophisticated speech and nobler-than-though attitude to mean him more than the self-serving monster that he is, through and through. A very conniving, manipulative, _spiteful_ demon should a simpleton ever think otherwise. Oh yes, the memory of the first and only time I ever had the misfortune of meeting the creature, still burns within me when I close my eyes. Visions of a snarling, shadow like form haunt my dreams most nights. As I spoke of the weapon of ignorance, it must be made known that Kain uses truth as his primary tool in manipulation. Indeed, as subtle as his violent presence, so too are his tactics cleverly disguised beneath the seemingly altruistic concepts of _mercy_ and _compassion_.

He understood my situation perfectly. Clever. Incredibly intelligent. The worst kind. And he found a way to use that to _his_ advantage. He let me live for no other reason than to upset his ever-hated 'wheel' and trouble the so-called God that claimed its hub.

As quick of mind as the demon might be, I'd come to realize I was more than the average 'peasant' he so adamantly claimed me to be. While it would be underestimating to say that Kain did not predict such a revelation to grace my mind, the speed at which it all came into sharp focus would have put him off-guard no doubt.

That does not take away from the gratitude I feel for the knowledge he offered me…even at its price.

Truly, it was the first thing hastily learned about Kain's offerings. Everything has its price. Even the truth.

Although the payment was acceptable, it presented me with numerous new questions and suspicions as to just _what_ this monster planned on doing. That in its self worried me. Uncertainty. When it concerned my well-being and Kain's future plans, I trusted the pig about as far as I could kick him. That, is not very far at all.

Truth and uncertainty. They are the two most powerful words present in my life.

It would be preferable if there were a little more truth than uncertainty but beggars can't be choosers as they say.

This new world is so dark in my eyes. So unforgivably unstable it worries me. Everything is now so unsure. Where once I knew my place, my exact purpose, now nothing is guaranteed.

When you think you're going to die, everything is clearer. The ground beneath your feet is firmer and from there you can see things as they are. It was in those moments that I truly saw Kain. I saw that monster I spoke of…and I also realized that he wasn't lying to me.

He used the truth as a hammer with which he bludgeoned me temporarily void of a soul. Void of anything but my racing mind. For minutes I felt nothing. Not my wounds, not even my fear.

How would you be able to feel anything in the wake of the knowledge that we were all cogs in a wheel of another's design, nothing more than slaves. Not even aware of our elusive master's plans. Trapped in a pointless cycle of monotonous life and meaningless death. Imagine my horror to be told that a creature waits to devour my very soul after I left the world of the living. If that is not an incentive to continue breathing, truly, I don't know what is.

He eagerly, gleefully told me that what choices I once thought I had, were not random…and not of my doing. He convinced me, that truly despicable bastard, that in some future seen by this Elder God, my ancestors and the ancestors of those in the village had posed trouble to its grand scheme. By no means were any of us warriors, scholars, magicians…and yet, this vampire told me plainly that what this creature could not consume or control, it _removed_. Presumably, we were more a hindrance than a threat.

What is that saying? "Out of sight, out of mind".

I thought I was surely going to die that night. In retrospect, I should be dead. The fact that I live now is as Kain had so delicately put it "Something else to trouble that parasite's sleep".

Surely, this is how it feels to be a tool. A living tool. But a tool nonetheless. To think, I can thank my continued existence on the vengefulness of one crazed Vampire from a future time. Although, there was another factor. There is nothing quite like the expression on a Vampire's face as he tells you that you aren't even fit for a light meal. It's truly extraordinary. A little bit of humour mingled with disappointment. Unfortunately, the poison that was floating through my veins was no laughing matter.

Yes, that creature's bite had poisoned my blood. Although, the cold and the chill of the weather had slowed the infection's progress. How fortunate. It was only as the pass out of the valley greeted me that I saw the effects of the infection. After the vampire had left me, I'd placed a poultice on it, scavenged from the dead Apothecary.

Oh yes. All the villagers were indeed dead.

But they hadn't been murdered by Kain. No. It would seem that one of my once would-be suitors was afflicted with madness and had slain them all in his delirium.

He'd of course tried to slay Kain. Obviously he was not only insane but still unbelievably stupid.

The poultice that was placed on the wound had saved my life. By the time the fever hit me it would have already been too late.

My journey down the mountain and out of the valley was almost the end of me. But I lived.

The extent of my fortune was truly staggering.

But escaping the mountain was only the beginning of my difficult path.


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Legacy of Kain. The OC is mine, though.

Summary: This is a sequel to The Last Winter. Nosgoth has changed. Gone is the sun, the rain, the snow. What's left in its place is a land decaying before the eyes of two Kains and a woman that should be dead. One Kain seeks it's complete destruction, another searches for it's salvation and the last is a weary observer wondering if perhaps death would have been the more merciful of her fates.

AN: I'm a terrible person for starting stories and never finishing them. Thou hast been warned! If it does continue, I promise it will pick up.

Thanks to Clement Rage for reviewing. No, she is not a vampire. I'm afraid there will be no powers or special abilities, save the will to survive that she'll have at her disposal. It'll be paced a little slower and with scarily short chapters but I promise I will keep it interesting.

I would like to apologise for any inaccuracies or OOC canon characters. I guarantee you it's been almost a life-time since I played it and I am stretching the canon story just a tad. If you want to, please, rant away. I honestly don't mind.

* * *

The winds howled.

The noise reminded Kain of the dying sounds of some caged, desperate beast. Something wild and untamed that clung to its ferocious nature even until it's death throws. Fighting against an end that seemed inevitable. A pitiful kind of futility. And yet, it could do nothing but thrash against the chains of it's predetermined fate. Kain was among a few who could truly claim to understand that type of existence. Frustrating.

From his perch Kain felt the dust and ash brush his face in place of rain. Despite the winds, there was no storm coming, there was no moisture in the air, no sun. The ominous cry of the winds sounded to his trained ears like the last cries of Nosgoth as it fell into darkness.

Against the dust stinging his eyes and battering his vision Kain viewed the cracked and crumbling remains of the Pillars with a resigned and critical eye.

For all his regrets and past failures, his refusal to sacrifice himself to restore the pillars was not yet occupying the rather lengthy list. With his newfound perspective on the world he could see that while his blunt methods of the past were indeed driven by arrogance and all-round foolhardy, he was not entirely incorrect in his actions despite his questionable methods.

The Pillars had to fall, eventually. It was unavoidable. For Nosgoth to truly heal, they needed to go.

It had started with war between Vampire and Hylden. The old stories and murals claim the Hylden created a weapon that violated the natural order, and that the ancient Vampires made the Pillars to both restore the land and lock the Hylden out of Nosgoth. The truth, however, painted the Vampires in a much less noble light. Oh, yes, the Hylden had created an unholy and monstrous weapon against the Vampire race. Something whose conception should never have even graced the darkest of minds. But the nine Pillars were erected not to restore Nosgoth, but instead to rip a hole in the very fabric of the world and lock the Hylden and their weapon away for all time. The Pillars became the stitches that held a very mortal wound closed. A wound inflicted out of fear. For this weapon terrified his ancestors to such an extent that they wouldn't even consider standing against it.

Kain wasn't sure who he despised more, the so called 'Prophet' buried beneath the earth for his undoubted part in it or the Ancient Vampires for being so undeniably short-sighted that they didn't foresee an enemy as powerful as the Hylden devising a way of attaining freedom.

And they would be freed. That was another inevitability.

Their tactics had evolved. No longer were they able to swarm and destroy as they once had. With sword and claw and flame. But they worked behind the scenes. A source of corruption that could no longer be hidden out of sight and out of mind. It needed to be faced. It needed to be fought and obliterated once and for all.

And to do that they needed to be released. As noble as his intentions now were, Kain had no doubt that when this was all through the peoples of Nosgoth would curse and spit upon hearing his name. They would burn effigies of him. Tear down anything of his that still stood. They would persecute all Vampires. He would be hated.

Kain laughed out loud; a grating, guttural sound. There was nothing new there, he reckoned.

But first thing's first. He had no intentions of releasing the Hylden without a way of combating their weapon. As steep his ultimate goals he wasn't quite that stupid and nowhere near as insane as most would have claimed.

A shrill shriek started up against the noisy winds and Kain sighed tiredly. His contemplative mood spoiled with the impending conversation.

Ariel had not taken his younger self's refusal all that well. He knew from personal experience that she would be wailing for quite some time to come. Years in fact. Perhaps even unto the very end of Nosgoth. He wasn't entirely sure if she'd ever stopped or if he'd simply stopped listening. He was terribly good at learning to ignore those he thought were less than worthy of his attention.

He dropped to the ground gracefully. His clawed feet hardly making a sound on the dry earth, however, her head snapped in his direction. A dead, roving eye and an eerily empty eye socket watched him with contempt. Kain had no doubt that had she the afterlife ability she'd have tried to throttle the life out of him.

"Selfish, black hearted beast!" Kain winced against the sound. The spectre vanished and reappeared at his side in a wisp of icy cold, distorted air. "Twice damned, I name you. Curses on you and all your kin!"

"Stop, please, you flatter me." Kain muttered coolly. Unable to restrain the amused and yet biting tone in his voice.

Ariel stilled. Her glare even more piercing when combined with her grotesquely decomposing face and vacant stare.

"You…are not him?" She asked, confused and momentarily deflated. She seemed all the more translucent when confronted with whatever thoughts were running through her incorporeal mind.

Kain smiled. A row of razor sharp teeth glinted in the ceaseless shade of dark clouds.

"Oh, I am Kain. Perhaps not the Kain you would recall but the ruination of the Pillars is as much my doing as his. More so in fact. So please, feel free to rave away." He waved his left hand airily.

"Whelp! You'd dare insult me with your lies. Be gone, and leave me to my pitiful fate." The ghost cried.

Kain rolled his eyes skyward. He'd never expected this to be pleasant or easy but it would be downright impossible if he couldn't even get the spirit to even acknowledge that he was in fact Kain.

"Must you be so dramatic? There are a great many other things that would give me more pleasure than your company, Ariel. I seek your counsel." He rasped.

The spectre laughed. Her disembodied voice echoed off what was left of the Pillars.

"Counsel? You would have me believe that you are Kain…and that you seek _counsel_?" She sputtered in disbelief. "The bastard you claim to be would _never _seek another's counsel. Much less mine. I have already offered all the counsel I will to the destroyer, Kain. Leave me."

Something in the Vampire might have been edging dangerously close to irritation but experience had taught him the true value of patience. Losing his temper with the spirit would get him absolutely nowhere and very quickly to boot. If there was a common trait to be found in the guardians of balance it was the ability to be wholeheartedly stubborn, even in the face of the irrefutable.

_Especially_ in the face of the irrefutable.

"You may not have any more to offer to me, Ariel, but I am the Guardian of Balance…" Kain plucked the Soul Reaver from his back and settled its glowing point in the dry earth. The eyes on the hilt seemed to regard the spectre disdainfully and with an almost hungry air. Ariel must have sensed the danger because she retreated a few feet and replaced her angry glare with a calculating look. Kain allowed a pause for better effect before continuing. "…and I do have a task to accomplish. If you will not provide the information I seek then I can not leave you here to arm my enemies." Truly, Kain wasn't quite insane enough to risk using the blade against her. As irritating as the ghost was, her part in the shaping of things was pivotal. That was even if the Soul Reaver was capable of severing her from the balance Pillar. Kain wasn't entirely sure it could.

He was simply hoping she'd still enough attachment to the living world to value her continued existence, as pitiful as it was.

She wailed again. The noise was almost painful on his sensitive ears. It reached a pitch that he was certain might have had lasting damage were he in wolf form. No doubt she'd just cleared the present area of all living things capable of interpreting sound.

The wailing ceased in a screech of frustration and an overdramatic flailing of the ghost's bony arms.

"I do not believe you to be Kain. So do not test my patience with that lie. _However_, if you seek Nosgoth's salvation, I will.." The spectre stalled to give him a glare worthy of Raziel. "…_do what I can_." It croaked.

Though still not entirely satisfied with the progress Kain thought it best to leave Ariel to believe whatever she wanted. As long as she told him what he needed to know it wasn't really relevant.

"Excellent. For starters…" Kain smiled again, a wolfish grin those who claimed to know him would interpret as an omen of bad things to come."…you can tell me where the Ancient Hylden library is buried."

The spectre's face fell in disbelief. She was stunned into silence.

Kain's all-knowing smirk didn't waver for a moment.


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Legacy of Kain. The OC is mine, though.

Summary: This is a sequel to The Last Winter. Nosgoth has changed. Gone is the sun, the rain, the snow. What's left in its place is a land decaying before the eyes of two Kains and a woman that should be dead. One Kain seeks it's complete destruction, another searches for it's salvation and the last is a weary observer wondering if perhaps death would have been the more merciful of her fates.

AN: I'm a terrible person for starting stories and never finishing them. Thou hast been warned!!!

Tonnerre: Thank you for the review. It does feel good to be continuing. ;)

Clement Rage: I'm glad I'm not wandering too off track with Kain and the story. Keeping Kain in character is one of my biggest priorities. Thank you for your review. It means a lot to me.

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She woke up to cold.

Having spent so much of her life in the wilderness, trapped by the frost and the bitter storms, she thought she'd known what it felt like to have ice in her veins. She'd thought she'd known what numbness was.

Yet nothing could prepare her for the damp chill of the low lands. It seeped through her; furs offering no protection and sank its chilling fangs into her very bones. She was stiff with the painful ache of her first dreamless nights sleep in what felt like weeks.

She sat up wearily, not at all refreshed, and rubbed her face to banish the exhaustion and fatigue. Banish the hopelessness.

Today would be another march to nowhere. No destination. No direction. There was just the need to keep moving. As safe in the ruins as she felt, she knew in her gut that nowhere was safe. There was no sanctuary from the darkness; no escaping the charcoal clouds spreading across the sky in ominous silence. Her only hope was to keep marching. Perhaps find some answers.

She wanted the truth, and because of that need there were two clear choices open to her. One was to search for it her self. She would wander this wasteland directionless, trying to piece together answers to questions that Kain purposefully left unanswered.

Or she could find him and ask him to clarify.

Every fibre of her being was aiming for the first option. However, her luck hadn't been terribly great as of late and she knew it was a fools hope to wander all of Nosgoth and not eventually run into one of him. Hopefully, of course, it would be the older of the pair.

She cursed as her water flask slipped through numb fingers as she attempted to return it to the sanctuary of her pack. Luckily the damn thing was corked. So many of the streams she'd passed had been polluted; dead animals and decaying bodies littering grisly banks. Fresh water was a scarce necessity. One she couldn't afford to waste.

Bundling the last remains of her camp into the bag and swallowing her meagre breakfast of dried meat, she prepared to leave. Daylight promised her another gruelling day's walk and if she'd any hope of covering ground quickly she needed to set off as soon as possible. She cast some small stones and forest litter over the ground where she'd slept. Enough, at first glance anyway, to cover her tracks. She hadn't lit a fire. She didn't even want to imagine the night-time horrors that would have probably attracted.

Light footed despite her heavy mood, she left her sanctuary.

It was disheartening to leave the ruins behind. There was something comforting about them. They allowed her dreamless sleep. The first time in so long without nightmares of Vampires and of giant omnipotent monsters underground. The stone pillars and walls had fallen to time. Not war. Not magic. Just age. They'd been forgotten. Left to quietly pass into the darkness. There was no malevolence in its ruination. There was perhaps a peace in that.

She thought about that place long after it had faded from view. In quiet reflection she pondered what it had once been. Had it been some noble-mans house? Perhaps an outpost of some kind? Whatever it had been it was old. She supposed it was pointless to think about it. It was nothing more than crumbling stone now. But it occupied her thoughts and gave her something trivial to think about when her mind was so burdened by her uncertain future.

Days seemed to pass like hours after her night in the ruins. Her senses were absent and time appeared to completely leave her. Monotonously, one foot found it's way in front of another as the mountains grew smaller and smaller. It got moderately warmer but even _that_ realization passed her by.

She hadn't even really noticed the silence of the wilderness till she heard the startling and terrifying crack of a branch.

Like an animal she froze instinctually. Her body seizing up of it's own accord till she was a coiled spring. Energized by shock and terror and emotions she hadn't the nerve to think about. She came alive then; every sense roaring at her, her muscles screaming, her mind crying out. She took a deep breath and felt common sense taking back control of her wits. She crouched down slowly; scanning the trees around her and glancing up into the branches. There was nothing.

However, she'd been down this route before. There would be no convincing her jittery mind that she'd imagined the sound. There _was_ something out there.

She stayed still. Listening. Waiting. A patience in her stillness that spoke of a hunter's life. Quiet and ready.

A soft rustle of dead leaves and her head snapped in its direction with predatory speed.

Without thought her bow was drawn and an arrow notched.

Another twig snapped. Closer this time. And then another. She followed the path of the sounds counting between them. _Three, two, one_. She still couldn't see anything. But she heard its movements clearly enough. They were cautious steps. Not light. But not clumsy either. Whatever it was, it was searching for her. If it could see her with bow drawn it would have stopped. The fact that it kept creeping closer and closer indicated that it had lost track of her when she'd crouched and was moving in on her last location.

Something rustled behind her and her breath caught in her throat. _Oh Gods no!_ Any sense of calm she'd summoned dissipated as she realized that she was being hemmed in. There was not one….but at least two. She was being cornered like an animal.

Holding in a shaky breath she readied herself to run. The snap and rustles crept closer on both sides as she aimed her bow. There was a flicker of something dark passing from tree to tree in front of her and she focused on that with an intensity that stilled the shaking in her hands and body. The form moved in the gloom with rhythm and practiced ease. She'd no doubt that had she looked behind her she'd have seen exactly the same thing.

A moment before she knew the form would dart for cover again, she let an arrow fly. Not even waiting to check and see if it would strike she moved forwards at speed. Muscles contracted and relaxed as her small feet pounded the ground with vigour she wouldn't have thought she was capable of. She moved like the wind. The air rushing past her ears in a roar, competing with the pounding of her heart. After a few feet of ground passed her she heard the sharp cry of pain and unrecognisable shouts from behind as her arrow struck home. She felt a small grin creep its dangerous way across her face and she let herself hope that this would be the one time that fortune actually smiled down on her.

But before she was close enough to get a decent look at her fallen stalker, something impacted sharply on her back, right beside her left shoulder blade. But instead of the projectile bouncing off, it stuck. A sharp pain lanced through her and she stumbled momentarily. Unwilling to face the grim thoughts of failure she forced herself upright and continued forward; slower than before but with a steady and desperate rhythm. Trickles of warmth began running down her back but she couldn't face the implications. Something hit the back of her thigh with the same sharp pangs of agony and she fell with a piercing cry.

Face down in the earth she reached around her thigh to whatever had hit her and it was then she felt the arrow shaft.

As footsteps approached, one pair confident, one with a shuffle, she wondered if perhaps she should have waited for death on the mountain.


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Legacy of Kain. The OC is mine, though.

Summary: This is a sequel to The Last Winter. Nosgoth has changed. Gone is the sun, the rain, the snow. What's left in its place is a land decaying before the eyes of two Kains and a woman that should be dead. One Kain seeks it's complete destruction, another searches for it's salvation and the last is a weary observer wondering if perhaps death would have been the more merciful of her fates.

AN: When playing the original game I always remember being terribly disappointed with the Willendorf Library. So for the purposes of my story I've...ehmm...embellished a little.I hope I can be forgiven.

Tonnerre: You are quite right about there being no such thing as luck in Nosgoth. XD

* * *

Kain's patience for Ariel's answer-dodging had worn out some number of hours ago. His initial display of calm superiority had disintegrated into nothing more than snarls and disbelieving huffs at a startlingly consistent speed for the old Vampire. He'd only _barely_ managed to keep his temper in the face of her cryptic answers and even less helpful remarks about Vampires in general, but in the end it had proven to be all for nothing. After hours of aggravating conversation he left the Pillar ruins steaming.

One thing was abundantly clear, now.

Ariel knew nothing; nothing of any _value_ at any rate. She'd been just another pawn in the wheel. Balance guardian? Hah! More like nursemaid. Someone to pander to the whims of the other guardians and prevent them from slitting each others throats.

It was such a _pity_ that no one had been there to prevent someone slitting hers. Hours with the woman had changed Kain's theories as to why she'd been killed. Grand plot? More like some poor servant who'd had to listen to one too many childish tantrums. If it were actually possible, the woman was even more insufferable in death as he'd no doubt she'd been in life.

Kain growled. He was frustrated, and the very fact that he allowed himself to be aggravated by the spectre frustrated him even more. He leaned back against the trunk of the tree he'd taken refuge in and took his time, mercilessly raking too-sharp claws through the thick, obnoxiously black bark.

The air was heavy today; thick with the stench of death and war and so-called progress. It was suffocating. Saturating. Kain felt it taint him. Nosgoth was beautiful once. He remembered its beauty even if his past life hadn't appreciated it then. And it _was_ beautiful. Magnificent.

But it was so fatally flawed in its beauty. So corrupt and so easily corruptible. It needed to be rebuilt…and to do so it first had to be taken back to its foundations. Take away the pillars, take away the Hylden, take away all that would threaten it. Level those who would oppose him.

It was a great plan. As are most plans that lack the complications of details.

While watching a rather large tree snake slowly stalk some kind of rodent in the branches of the adjacent tree, Kain realized that his goal was still unchanged. As unfortunate as Ariel's uselessness was, it didn't change the fact that he needed to find that library.

With all the grace of the deadliest predator Kain slowly walked the length of the knotted branch. He reckoned it may have been about noon but the sun lay concealed behind viscous clouds and fumes. By his reckoning there was maybe little more than six months before his younger self put his hasty plans into action and ultimately sealed the fate of Nosgoth. Back then he'd been so eager to rule, he'd ignored the fact that all that would be left to rule would be little more than a noxious bog. He'd known that Nosgoth would fall under his iron hand. Yet he'd welcomed it. Embraced the hideous and warped future he'd helped shape. But as immortal as Vampires may be, they are not unchanging. And as Nosgoth fell, so too did his children. An entire world, gone. Peoples scattered and ruined. He'd damned them all.

Perhaps that was why the Hylden never sought control over Nosgoth during those dark times. Did they sense the futility in conquering a wasteland? Did they know that there was nothing left for them to take their vengeance upon?

Had they known that the fates of the Vampires were to be far more horrible than anything they could possibly conceive?

The more that Kain thought about it, the more he came to respect the threat that the Hylden posed. They were not the mindless rabble that many would have liked to believe. Wild with rage, undoubtedly, rotting time away in purgatory but by no means were they to be underestimated. There was a patience to their undying fury; an intelligence behind their actions. There was order and a collective goal. Simply put, they were a foe to be reckoned with. Kain drove the thought out for the moment. Battle with the Hylden would be a bloody affair and would need to wait till his present problems were resolved. The parasite had to go. He needed a defence to their weapon. And he needed to raise or commandeer an army. So much to do and no one he could trust to help him.

It was always the same, he realized.

During Kain's internal dialogue a small rodent like creature had ventured out to examine his claw tipped feet. Aware of the sudden sensation of tiny furry pin-pricks on his toes Kain narrowed his eyes.

"Go away!" He hissed, as poisonous as the snake he'd previously been watching.

Oblivious to his verbal warning the creature continued its exploration.

With a growl, a squeak of surprise and a sharp flick of a clawed foot the rodent was sent sailing into the dense foliage.

It wasn't all that shocking, but Kain felt a great deal better after that.

Having exhausted the easiest source of information- and it cut Kain something terrible to even consider that Ariel was still by far the easiest source- the old Vampire knew he'd have to actually venture into civilisation to find his answers. That meant a potential run in with his younger self- a head splitting argument he'd no doubt he wanted to avoid at all costs- and also the risk that due to some small act on his part, the young Kain might very well advance his plans.

That would mean the destruction of Nosgoth and the resurrection of the Sarafan knights. His first lieutenants.

As much as Kain would have gladly given to meet Raziel again, it would not be the Raziel he remembered…and the potential for Nosgoth's resident parasite to manipulate him as he once had would again return. No. There could be no duplicate mistakes. Not while Nosgoth teetered on the brink and certainly not while that creature underground still drew breath.

Suddenly resolute, his form shifted. Two sets of eyes were exchanged for the blackness of dozens. The flapping wings of a horde of bats emerged from the tree line.

All in chaotic uniform they sped their way towards the great walled city.

The library of WIllendorf was all but abandoned.

A scant few guards littered the gates and trundled their way along its hallways. Nervous. Sleep deprived. Their footsteps were as heavy as the sombre mood the city seemed to be drowning in. It had always been a somewhat lifeless and dead place to Kain's rememberance but something was different now. An air of tension that hadn't previously been there. He could taste the palpable fear on his tongue. But it went deeper than that. Deeper than the obvious. Perhaps it had to do with Kain's new perspective on the world but something felt wrong. Off. Not as it should. Not as it was. Something had _changed_.

He traced his clawed finger along the blade of the Reaver and felt the warm metal hum beneath his fingertips. It sensed it too. He cleared his mind and listened to it. He felt its bright core thrum through his. A faint echo in his mind that worried him.

He could have sworn that a voice had whispered to him. A warning. A panic stricken "Leave!!" had clouded his mind in a flurry of emotions, the strongest one being fear.

Raziel had never feared anything. Not death. Not pain. Not even Kain had been able to frighten him. Yet, the Reaver felt it. It sang with an almost overwhelming sense of terror and dread. It was unfortunate that his method of communication was as limited as it was. He could have very much used Raziel's council; he would have very much liked to know what it was that had the Wraith trapped within the blade so stricken.

He swallowed his foreboding. Neither of their feelings on the matter could change what needed to be done. All he could do was proceed with caution.

The solid wooden doors groaned as they opened. The loud noise in the otherwise silent expanse of the hallways made Kain wince. He peered into the darkness contemplating the need for magic. He squinted disdainfully. He couldn't see anything. Even with his superior sight the endless black was impenetrable. He muttered a few words under his breath and several torches just inside the library doors ignited.

Kain stood dead in his tracks. Unmoving.

WIllendorf libraries were a thing to behold. Of all the wonders that he had never truly appreciated, this was undoubtedly one of the greatest. The stacks of book shelves stretched across his line of vision and disappeared into a dust filled darkness that the meagre torches couldn't light. It was history, and lies, and fiction and truth all rolled into one. Each tome was handwritten. Some of them taking lifetimes of work. And there were thousands of them. Enough to keep a vampire busy till the end of all time. In the past he'd condemned them as useless works of inaccuracies and biased interpretations. But in his many years he'd found that the most solid of truths existed even amidst the most twisted of lies. WIthin these numerous books something of what he needed had to have remained.

Kain stalled in his thoughts. There were thousands of them. He felt suddenly weary.

"Let's hope I didn't kill the librarian on my way in." He grumbled to himself.

* * *

"What you seek will not be easy to find. When your Ancestors buried the great Hylden library they destroyed all written record of its very existence. Only stories now remain; passed down through the generations from librarian to apprentice."

Luckily for Kain, the old Librarian was still alive. Living in the corner of the library itself on a makeshift cot, he'd found the guardian. He was welcomed much to his shock with a smile and a laugh. The frail Human greeted him like an old friend. Even in the dim lighting the old man looked every day as ancient as Kain. All but a few fine threads of his hair had fallen from his wrinkled and spotted scalp. He walked slowly and with the aid of two sticks. Wandered seemingly incoherently between topics and appeared to have trouble remembering Kain's name.

But he was forthcoming with his knowledge. There was no deception in his words. No fear. No hatred. He didn't seem to care what Kain was. Years of solitude and silence had obviously taken their toll. He was perhaps just glad of the chance to speak and be heard.

"What do the stories say?" Kain questioned eagerly.

The old man coughed out a laugh.

"Riddles and nonsense and hidden meanings. Out of fear of your ancestors what you seek was hidden in rhyme. So much fear in those days. Vampires afraid of Hylden. Hylden afraid of Humans. Humans afraid of everyone. Nosgoth almost tore itself apart." He told Kain.

The vampire's sharp mind lapped up the information.

"Why would the Hylden fear Humans?" He asked curiously.

"Why does anyone fear? We had weapons and minds for war…and the numbers to obliterate them. They were already at war with the Vampires. If we'd struck against them then they would have been crushed." The old man coughed a lungful of dust and phlegm into a dirty cloth concealed up his sleeve.

The old vampire could already fathom a number of reasons why the Human's hadn't struck. They'd probably hoped that the Vampires and Hylden would kill each other off.

Kain was filled with a knowing chill. He didn't know how but in his gut he knew that Vampires and Humans would need to work together to destroy the Hylden. He added that potential problem to his ever growing list.

"Where is the library?" He asked. Suddenly focused on the task at hand.

"Where the Sun meets the Stars on the traveller's path,

And the Earth swallows all who tremble past,

The moon lights the way to the descending stair,

Where the burden of knowledge rests on a liars chair." The old man muttered.

Kain blinked stupidly for a few seconds.

"Is that it? That's everything?" A few minutes ago he was all but ready to congratulate himself on his seeming good fortune. How quick things change.

"That is what I was thought and what I thought my old apprentice before he left to fight. It is all that remains of the Hylden's history." He intoned solemnly. It wasn't the destruction of the books that saddened him, but more so the attempt to cut them out of the history. The Hylden's past was linked to the Human and Vampire's. By destroying those records the Vampires had taken something from their own histories, too.

"Do you know what it means?" Kain asked somewhat desperately.

The old man shook his head.

"I'm sorry. I only keep the records. The words of the rhyme are meaningless to me. My apprentice might have had more insight but I fear his time has long since past. I am truly sorry I have not been more useful." The old man inclined his head and Kain felt himself do the same.

"You have been more than helpful. I thank you." Kain turned on his heel but only got a step before he realized he'd another question.

He turned back only to be assaulted by the sharp smell of sulphur and a face full of hot ash.

He coughed.

His mind barely managed to process what was left of the old librarian before he was almost hit with a white hot blast of the same energy that killed the Human.

He rolled to the side and rose steadily. Eyes sharp he sought out the practitioner.

"Show yourself!" He roared into the darkness. In the distance he could see the torches flickering out one after another; creeping their way towards him. The Reaver _burned_ against his back. It produced no light; no flame, but it burned nonetheless.

Kain narrowed his eyes and readied himself. In his younger days he might have laughed at this, perhaps even reveled in it.

He really had been a fool.


End file.
